On July 26th, 1788, New York ratified the US Constitution as the 11th state to join the union. New York was the nation's capital from 1789 - 1790. It has always been a melting pot of culture and diversity with over 3 million immigrants speaking over 800 languages. Under a tree, the stock exchange was founded here. New York is known for its subway system, which is one of the world's oldest and longest. When horse racing was popularized in the 1970's in NYC, prizes were called "big apples". That term spread throughout the state and eventually became what is now the nickname for New York. This is how New York became known as "The Big Apple". The capital is Albany, the state bird is the Eastern Bluebird, the state flower is the Rose, and the state tree is the Sugar Maple.
Indigenous people have lived in New York for over 13,000 years. Iroquois people moved there from the Appalachian region around 800AD. Between 1400 and 4000 years ago, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes arrived in the Adirondacks and created an alliance of Iroquoian-speaking nations. The Algonquians, including the Mahican and Lenape, lived in parts of Manhattan Island, the Hudson River, and parts of the Adirondacks, and would battle the Mohawk on occasion for land. Today, New York City has the most diverse and largest population of Indigenous in the US. There are eight federal and state sovereign Indigenous nations recognized within the boundaries of NY.
In the 17th century, the French and Dutch entered the picture and traded their guns and bullets for fur from the Algonquian. They brought over deadly diseases and forced the indigenous off of their land to migrate. The Dutch, English, and French were the first Europeans to colonize New York. The Mohawks helped the British during the American Revolution, and the Oneida - who drove out the Mohawks, sided with the US. In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano arrived in New York Bay. Henry Hudson explored the Hudson river and other parts of New York in order to find new routes to Asia for the Dutch and the British. The first 31 Dutch colonists' families came in 1623 and established their first colony after the Dutch established New Netherland for fur trading. New Amsterdam, or New York City - was established in 1624. The English thought they already claimed New Netherland in 1497, and the Dutch thought they had bought the Island from the Native Americans, so three wars were fought between the Dutch and the English from 1652 and 1674. In 1664, New Netherland was passed to the British as a major trading port, and it was named New York after the Duke of York. Fighting continued over the land between Britain and France. The French and Indian War, or the Seven Years' War, ended with the British gaining New France in 1763.